Pink Lemonade No Bake Cheesecake Parfaits

These super easy to make Pink Lemonade No Bake Cheesecake Parfaits are absolutely scrumptious. These will have you stealing them from your family members. No lie!

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Okay I have pink lemonade on the brain right now. I am completely addicted to everything pink lemonade. It’s a serious problem. Luckily it’s a problem that tastes good. So I’m not feeling overly bad about the whole thing one little bit.

Today I have the absolute pleasure of introducing my readers to one of my blogging buddies. Her name is Jennie and she’s absolutely wicked talented. She blogs at One Sweet Mess and can be found whipping up everything from Maple Pecan Granola to Game Day Loaded Nachos . I was initially drawn to her Cranberry Orange Gin Fizz with Thyme but I didn’t really want to make a drink for this edition of Burning Down The Kitchen. I poked about some of my favourite recipes of Jennie’s and came across her Funfetti Cake Batter Oreo Ice Cream. I was going to make that but then decided I wanted to wait till my son visits for that one. So I moved on to her Peanut Butter Oats Balls, but decided I wanted to hold off a week to make those since they would be perfect treats for my brother’s birthday. While I was scoping them out I caught her Gluten Free Pink Lemonade Dip out of the corner of my eye. I was intrigued. I was hungry. I was totally making that. Then one thing lead to another and her dip was made, demolished, then adapted into cheesecakes which our family is obsessed with. Then I took that cheesecake mix and turned it into ice cream sandwiches, which will be the next recipe to be posted here. Total obsession.

I love that Jennie’s recipe lead to inspiration for 3 different recipes. Honestly I am have about 3 others swirling around thanks to Jennie’s brilliance. She is so talented and everything she makes it so gorgeous. Her recipes make me want to run into the kitchen immediately and try to make something as pretty as hers. She is far more talented with a camera than I. Jennie’s photos are stellar, I just love her photography on her site. And I just love her. She’s bubbly and vibrant, full of life and joy. I hope I get to meet her in person one day very soon. Until then I’m going to introduce her to you so you can fall in love with her too!

Burning Down The Kitchen Interview with Jennie from The Messy Baker:

1. How did you get started blogging?

I was working on completing my Bachelor’s degree in English and wanted a creative writing outlet to practice and improve my writing skills. Since I spend most of my time in the kitchen baking or cooking, I figured why not combine both passions and start a website. I could continue my love for making a mess in the kitchen and improve my writing by writing about what I love most: food! At the time I was already following several food blogs, so it just made sense to start my own, and I haven’t looked back since.

2. What would you say your favourite part of it is?

Besides eating? I’d have to say, hands down, the wonderful people who make up the food blogging community. Honestly, the world could learn something from the food blogging community. The people I have met and befriended along the way are beyond amazing. Everyone is so helpful, caring, passionate, and, most of all, willing to lend a hand. There’s no competition; it’s great.

3. Is there anything about it you find challenging?

Finding a balance between working, blogging, and “me” time has been a challenge. I have taken on more brand work recently and now have deadlines, making blogging a bit more real and not just a hobby. Don’t get me wrong, I love every moment of it, but it would be much easier if I could just win the lottery, quit my job, and blog full-time. Keeping up with social media is no picnic. How many platforms are going to pop up? And, with Facebook being all sorts of selfish and wanting to take your money to promote your work, it has become a bit of a losing battle. I’d say that Google+ is looking quite sexy these days.

4. How do you balance blogging and life in general?

Balance is a daily work in progress. I’m still not very good at it, but here it goes… I was able to give up a day at work to focus more on my site, which has made a significant difference. I’m now able to spend more time with family, friends, and my husband. I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to be diligent about keeping organized. I recently purchased a planner, and, to my surprise, I’m actually using it. I plan out my menu, recipes, and grocery list each week. Once I’ve completed a task, I put a little check mark next to it. When I check everything off of my list, I treat myself to a cookie. I’m like a 2-year old.

5. Where do you find recipe inspiration?

For me, recipe inspiration comes from several different sources. I read an inordinate amount of cooking magazines. There’s a lot of inspiration and tips/tricks floating around in those. I go through my favorite blogs on a weekly basis, so some of it comes from my fellow foodie friends. I also own about 500 cookbooks, and, as if those aren’t enough, I borrow cookbooks from the library for inspiration. I also dream about food, so there’s that. A lot of my inspiration comes from playing around in the kitchen. I start with a foundation (maybe a recipe I found in a book) and tweak it to my liking. Boom, a new recipe is born.

6. Have you always loved to cook?

I fell head-over-heels in love with baking at age 7 when I baked my first from scratch chocolate cake. Ever since then, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my dad, grandmother, and great-grandmother. My dad taught me how to make pie crust, my grandmother taught me how to make sugar cookies, and my great-grandmother taught me how to eat. Being in the kitchen is always an euphoric experience–an escape from reality. As soon as I start whisking, I get lost.

7. What about photography, you take beautiful photos, has that always been a passion of yours?

Funny you should ask this question. I didn’t grow up with a passion for photography. Matter of fact, I was horrible at it. My photos were always missing heads. My passion was always located in the kitchen. However, with a food blog comes the need for beautiful photography, so I was forced to learn how to snap pretty pictures. I went all in and started with a DSLR, because apparently I like to torture myself. I looked at pretty photos, read books (Helene Dujardin is a savour), and studied photo tutorials like it was my job. It has taken a better part of 2 years, but I’m finally getting the hang of it. I love that it challenges me. Sometimes I want to pick up a plate of cookies and fling them across my photo studio, but that’s what I love about it. In the end it’s all about patience and moving the food around until you’re happy with your photos. To this day, I’m still learning new methods and tricks.

8. Do you have any blogging advice to share with us, maybe something you wish someone had shared with you when you first started?

If you’re really serious about starting a blog, invest in a self-hosted site. Also, don’t be afraid to market yourself and what you have to offer the world. Make friends with other bloggers–don’t be shy. People eat with their eyes, so take the time and learn how to use your camera.

9. What’s a typical day like for you?

I drag myself out of bed, grab my computer from my office, and head to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. I run on coffee, so that gets checked off the list first. When the pot of coffee is finished brewing, I sit down at the kitchen table and turn on my computer. I usually answer emails, do a little social media promoting, if I have a post that went out that day, I promote it and share it across the Interwebs. I like to spend a bit of time visiting my favorite blogs. After that, I open my planner to see what’s on the to-do list for the day and get to makin’ a mess in the kitchen. I do 500 loads of dishes, write a few posts, develop a few recipes, snap a few photos, and try to organize and clean the house in-between. By 4:00 (that’s when Squirrel gets home) I’m cleaned up and ready to start dinner. After dinner I relax a bit. I don’t watch too much television, but I do like to read. I usually head to bed around 9pm with my computer to catch up on emails, Pinterest sharing, and participating in some of the Facebook groups I’m involved it.

10. How much time do you spend in the kitchen each day?

When I work my day job, it’s about 2 hours. On Thursdays, I’m in the kitchen from 7am to 6pm. On the weekends, you’ll find me in the kitchen all day.

11. Are you a sweet or salty snacker?

Psht, sweets all the way! I’m a horrible snacker. I could munch all day long if I allowed it.

12. Do you prefer fruits or veggies? Or a mix of both?

I have always been a very good eater, so both. If Squirrel didn’t love meat so dang much, I could live off of veggies.

16. If you could cook with one celebrity chef who would it be and why?

Julia Child. I mean, she’s epic. I grew up watching her with my great-grandmother. She’s an idol.

17. If you could go on the ultimate dream foodie vacation where would you go and what would you eat?

I’d have to say Italy. So many carbs. So much cheese. I would take down as many carbs as I could and guzzle some fruity wine.

18. What are your three favourite kitchen toys?

My immersion blender. This tool is amazing for the messy cook. If I had to transfer soup or marinara from the pot to a blender, a holy explosion of sauce is sure to happen. Wooden spoons. Yup, a simple wooden spoon. It’s not fancy, but it does the trick. Lola, my KitchenAid mixer. Without her, there would be no cookies, buttercream frosting, or cheesecakes.

19. Do you collect cookbooks? Which ones are your favourites?

Do I collect cookbooks? Only about 500. I’m running out of room, I have so dang many. My favorites are Alice’s Tea Cup, Baking by Dorie Greenspan, and The Good Eats trilogy.

20. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Is blogging still a big part of the picture?

I see a lot of butter and sugar in the future…maybe even a cookbook with my name on it. One can dream, right?

Dare Portion of Burning Down The Kitchen:

Dare Option #1:

Show us your kitchen in the midst of baking or cooking up a storm. All the better if you are in the photo.

I am in love with Jennie’s cabinets and counter. How pretty is this kitchen. Who cares about the mess, I just want to lick all the bowls. And Jennie, just a little FYI for you, I’m going shopping this weekend to pick up glass jars for my counter like yours. Those are gorgeous. I was looking for apothecary jars but I think these wide mouth ones would be perfect for all the baking I do every day. So thanks for not only inspiring some recipes but some shopping too. Oh ya, and hubs says thank you to (while rolling his eyes).

I love the red mixer, and I adore all the stoneware. So pretty. And the splash for red berries is just so cute. I also want to know where Jennie got her green dish, it looks like a butter dish. That’s super snazzy. I now see why Jennie’s photos are so colourful. Her kitchen has the same bright pops of colour everywhere. Airy, bright and awe-inspiring.

So this is Jennie’s Gluten Free Lemonade Dip. Aren’t her photos spectacular? I always know Jennie’s photos when I see them on Facebook or Pinterest. Her photos are full of bright light, colourful food and gorgeous props skills. As someone who struggles with those things I really appreciate when people master those skills, and trust me, photo styling takes serious skill. It takes instinct and serious composition talent. Jennie has all of that in spades. Plus she’s a kick ass baker. Every recipe I’ve tried of hers has impressed the hell out of me.

So the dip happened, but we scarfed it so fast I didn’t get photos. I’ll have to try that again when the hooligans aren’t around to descend like hungry wolves. I was replying to comments on my Strawberry No Bake Mini Cheesecakes while shoving Jennie’s dip in my pie hole, and I had Pink Lemonade Hand Pies baking in the oven, so it was a natural leap to adapt her dip into these Pink Lemonade No Bake Cheesecakes. I could not have been happier with the results. Fabulous inspiration leads to kiss ass desserts. After I got done taking photos of the cheesecakes I had some filling left. Never one to waste a good filling I started to ponder what to do with it. Since I’m an ice cream junkie the next natural leap was ice cream sandwiches. I’m addicted to ice cream sandwiches, I had Red Velvet, Meyer Lemon, Cookie Dough ice cream sandwich recipes on my site. So of course pink lemonade ones would be next.

Super easy to make and absolutely scrumptious to devour. These will have you stealing them from your family members!

Course:
Dessert

Cuisine:
American

Author: Kim Beaulieu of Cravings of a Lunatic

Ingredients

For the Crust:

2cupsgraham crumbs

1teaspoonsugar

2tablespoonsbuttermelted

For the Cheesecake Mixture:

1cupheavy cream

1/2cupconfectioners' sugar

2tablespoonsgranulated sugar

1package8 ounces of cream cheese, softened, and whipped smooth

1individual sized package4.5 g of Crystal Light Pink Lemonade Mix

Optional: pink food colouringnot necessary at all, personal choice

For the Optional Garnish:

Sprinkles

Whipped cream

Crushed cookies

Instructions

For the Crust:

Pour graham crumbs into a bowl, add sugar and mix well.

Melt the butter in microwave or on stove top. Pour over graham crumbs. Mix with a fork until well combined.

Divide evenly amongst serving dishes and leave loose, no need to pack it down since you are not cooking it.

For the Cheesecake Mixture:

In a stand mixtures combine the heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and granulated sugar. Start mixer on low with the whisk attachment. Once it starts to thicken slightly you can increase speed until it's on high. Whisk on high till the mixture is fluffy.

In a separate bowl whip the softened cream cheese with a mixer until it's smooth and there are no chunky pieces, add the lemonade mix slowly and mix until combined.

Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream mixture and whisk on medium speed until it's smooth and combined.

Transfer to a piping bag if desired, or spoon into serving dishes.

Place in fridge for at least an hour.

For the Optional Garnish:

You can add sprinkles, whipped cream, crumbled graham crackers or anything else over top of these. We did ours plain this time around and just did the cheesecake mixture with some sprinkles.

Super cute right. I am way too addicted to tiny parfaits. It’s just crazy how much I love them. How can your resist such cuteness? I know I can never resist a cute, tiny little parfait. It makes me feel like I can eat more of them since they are small. Totally acceptable right? No, just me then.

I have to thank Jennie so very much for allowing me to feature her today. I just adore this woman, she is so talented and such a sweet lady. I think you guys should all go stalk her now. You find her on her blog, One Sweet Mess.

Some of my favourite all time recipes of Jennie’s are listed below. Head over to her site and pin like mad. It’s a great way to save recipes you want to make so you don’t lose track of them.

Seriously right! The girl can cook her butt off and take some amazing photos. I cannot wait to try the fudge. I’m a fudge fanatic. I’m sure it’s going to spark fudge-mania over here. Right now we’re still in the middle of pink lemonade-mania. I’ve got a few more of these Pink Lemonade No Bake Cheesecakes to polish off.

Oh, before I run off to make more pink lemonade treats, did y’all know I’m on Instagram now? You should totally rush over and follow me on Instagram immediately. I have no idea how to use it or what I’m doing but it’s sure to be entertaining.

Comments

Kim, you are so sweet. You seriously did me up right, gave me the royal treatment. I am so lucky to have such wonderful foodie friends in my life. The butter dish is made by Chantel and was purchased at Marshall’s. Those berries are too cute, but they’re forever in my way as I’m trying to bake. The canisters–believe it or not–were purchased from Walmart. I despise Walmart, but I suppose it came in useful just this once. I keep my sugar, flour, and powdered sugar in them since there’s a quick turnover with those ingredients. I’m so happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed my lemonade dip and that the recipe inspired so many amazing recipes. Love those parfaits. You’re just now joining instagram? Consider me following. Again, thank you so much. I’m over here blushing.

I am so glad we did this Jennie. You know I adore both you, and your blog. This was so much fun. I’m so glad you liked the post. I always stress myself out over these interviews.

I ended up buying similar canisters at a store here called Canadian Tire. I went with metal lids because my kitchen has stainless but not sure I’m going to like cleaning the tops all the time. I got carried away and bought 5, with plans for one more. I bought them out so I have to hit another franchise in the city this week for the last one. I did two kinds of flour, sugar and brown sugar thus far. I like the idea of powdered sugar too and perhaps more brown, I use both light and dark so having them both would be fun.

I didn’t want to join instagram till I got an iphone. I’m a late bloomer apparently. Ha. xx

Thanks so much for another entertaining ‘Burning Down the Kitchen.’ I love learning more about the bloggers I read, but I really love your commentary along with the interview too. I agree about the canisters. I think I’m going to be hitting up WalMart soon (which I also despise).

Thanks lady. I have so much fun with these interviews. Those jars are perfect. I ended up at a local store called Canadian Tire and picked up 5, I bought them out and want one more. Mine have metal lids, really cute. Picking up the last one for my set tomorrow.

Have I ever said that I thoroughly enjoy your Burning Down the Kitchen feature? 😉 I guess maybe once or twice. 😉 Lovely job with this one — Jennie is so interesting. Always enjoying learning more about other bloggers — thanks.

This is a fabulous edition of Burning Down the Kitchen, Kim! your pink lemonade no bake cheesecakes are adorable and so creamy – I want to dig right in with a giant spoon. And I ADORE Jennie. She gave a fantastic interview, as to be expected because she’s brilliant and hilarious. My favourite part of blogging has definitely been getting to know amazing ladies like the two of you. Hope you’re having a great weekend!

I just love Jennie. She’s so down to earth and real. Plus her recipes are such stunners. It was really hard to narrow it down to decide what to make.

Thanks Nancy, we need to do one of these with you. That would be fun. And I agree, getting to meet people with a shared passion is such a perk of the job. It’s so nice to talk to people whose eyes don’t glaze over when I talk food for hours. My family’s eyes glaze over within 5 minutes.

Thanks so much Michelle. You must try them. And I hear you, I’m so sick of the snow. Spring needs to come asap. Hope you’re well my friend. Congrats on the book, I saw that and was like “squee”. So happy for you. I’ve been so crazed I haven’t been commenting much but I also read your post on the wrinkle cream and giggled, I’m 45 and still haven’t used it. I use cetaphil cleaner once a day and thumb my nose at mother nature the rest of the time. Hopefully she doesn’t make me pay for that one day. Ha. xx

Hello Kim, great article with those gorgeous Pink Lemonade Cheesecakes. I don’t care for the traditional cheesecake (like NY cheesecake) I always have to do something with it. Last night I did a brown sugar twist on mine and it was awesome. Jennie is one of my fave bloggers too. I am a true newbie to blogging and have had a couple of tips from bloggers but I need to get a web designer or something as mine needs SO much help and I am reading tutorials like crazy and some I still have no idea what they are talking about. I LOVE YOUR RECIPES!!! Please feel free to check out my website and give me any advice you can would greatly be appreciated too. I don’t want to post anymore recipes just yet until I can get this website figured out. Thanks so much.

Hey Bea, just saw this. I hope the website is coming along. I used a designer, it’s a fellow blogger, you can find her at Pass the Sushi or Silhouette Graphics. I also use a call named Robin from Grits Design for tweaking. It helps a ton. Plus I research a lot like you. There’s always more to learn.

Absolutely dreamy! I am wanting to make these for a luncheon but I am not positive on the ingredients in Crystal Light. I have some folks who cannot consume artificial sweetners and I am thinking that Crystal Light contains it. Is there something I could substitute that does not have artificial sweetners? Thank You.

You could try lemon extract. It won’t give you the pink colour but it would give lemon flavour. I’m trying to think of what else you could use that wouldn’t have artificial sweetener. I was thinking a touch of frozen juice concentrate, but I’m not sure if it contains artificial sweeteners or not. Or something like country time lemonade, you would have to check the packaging. I don’t think koolaid or jello does pink lemonade. If I happen to hit the store tomorrow I’ll peek about for other options.

Thank you so much. I never thought about Country Time Lemonade. I will check it out. I could always use a tad bit of pink food coloring. Thought about dry lemon jello with a touch of pink food coloring. Ooohh, I bet watermelon jello would be a fun twist! I do love this recipe for diabetics. It is nice to have recipes like this that cut back on sugars. Once again, thanks for being so helpful and thoughtful.

Hi I love your blog! These deserts are beautiful and I would love to make a patriotic version of this cheesecake desert. I was wondering if you had an input…I wanted to do blueberries and strawberries to add the red and blue….do you think it would be okay to switch out the pink lemonade crystal light for a strawberry flavor? Any input would be much appreciated! Thank you so much!

Yes, absolutely switch it. I’ve done so many versions of this. I’m always mixing things up. You can use them to make ice and granita too. Just a fun way to add some flavour. I also really dig the frosting creations (I think Duncan Hines makes them) for fun flavouring in sweets.

And thank you. I love hearing that.

Let me know how they turn out. Feel free to drop a photo on my fb wall so I can see. I get such a kick out of seeing what people make.

It’s right inside the post Hillary, you’ll see a big box around it and a photo of the dish inside it. Just scroll down about halfway, there’s a recipe box and you can even print it, and save the ingredients if you use ziplist. Super easy to use. Hope that helps. Most posts on the blog are printable, except the odd older one. Let me know what you think of it if you try it. xx

Hello,
Great recipe! I plan to make these for my daughters birthday party next weekend and place the contents into tiny mason jars. I was wondering how many servings one recipe makes? Thank you so much.

Hi Shana. It depends on how big your jars are. I think you can safely plan for 6 to 8 servings. If you do them tiny you might be able to get 12 to 16. I do them in shot glasses on occasion. Basically I say it feeds about 4 big servings or 8 smaller servings. But we’re big eaters so for “normal” people it’s probably more than that. Ha! Anyhow, hope that helps. I updated the printable recipe to help people out a bit with serving sizes. The old plugin didn’t input that information. So hopefully it’s all displaying properly now. Let me know how it turns out. And Happy Birthday to your daughter.

Hi, Jess. Thanks for leaving a comment. I’m in Canada so our products are probably fairly similar to yours. You can use anything that has a pink lemonade flavour to it. I know Country Time has a pink lemonade drink mix that is powdered that would work. Crystal Light carries pink lemonade and sometime you can find Kool-Aid packs too. You could even use some frozen pink lemonade concentrate. If all else fails you can order pink lemonade extract from amazon. Here’s my affiliate links for a few options you could try:
Pink Lemonade Drops- http://amzn.to/2fnDCSx
Pink Lemonade Extract- http://amzn.to/2fny9Lt
Pink Lemonade Crystal Light Packs- http://amzn.to/2fnGjDH
Pink Lemonade Country Time Lemonade- http://amzn.to/2woutxa

And if all that fails, ha, you can mix granulated sugar with a wee bit of cranberry juice and a hit of lemon juice.

I hope that helps. I know from living in Canada that some things can be hard to find if you don’t live in the states or near the states. So, I empathize completely.